The invention relates to a method for the cleaning of rail grooves, in particular of railroad and tramway railtracks and to the device therefore, according to the preamble of the first method claim and of the first apparatus claim.
According to the known methods for the cleaning of railtrack grooves cleaning is performed with mechanical means, such as scratching chisel, wire brush and the like which leads to an insufficient cleaning effect or to a stripping at the railtrack grooves and to a difficult, in most cases insufficient, removal of the dirt layer, because the chisel size has to be adapted to different sizes of the rail grooves, the cleaning cannot be performed to the base of the grooves because of the water discharge openings in the rail grooves, whereby the method is associated with a small cleaning effect.
During the following separation and disposal of the carried out dirt, where the transport with a suctioned stream of air is expensive because the effective difference pressure cannot exceed one by and is also very energy expensive because of the large required volumes of air and nevertheless only a slight cleaning and thus only a small travel speed of a carrier vehicle is achievable relative to the high energy expenditure.
The stripped dirt is very abrasive and acts very corroding, whereby the suction device including the complicated constructed filter plant is subjected to heavy loading and requires the use of expensive materials and requires high maintenance costs in order to maintain the complete suction plant always sealed for vacuum.
In addition water jet streams are employed for street cleaning, which requires large volumes of water, which causes the flushing in of dirt, which frequently contains split or other flat waste parts such as foils, tissues or the like into the drainage channels of the railtrack grooves, which dirt then can cause stoppages there.
The cleaning with a high pressure jet stream of water or cleaning solution has been performed for cleaning of traffic areas, wherein the jet stream was placed onto a traffic area to be cleaned and the washed away dirt water mixture was then sucked off by a suction device from the surface to be cleaned and was discarded.
The directional accuracy of the high pressure jet stream does not have to be particularly high in this context and the high pressure jet stream does not have to be precisely adjusted and the case of an uncontrolled flowing off of the dirt water mixture carries little importance for the quality of the cleaning. The disadvantages of the suctioning off however are similar to those already described, wherein the wet dirt filtration takes the place of the dry dirt filtration.
1. Purposes of the Invention
It is an object of the present invention to furnish an improved method and a device, which aimingly and down to base ground accomplish in a reliable fashion specially the cleaning of the railtrack grooves of railroad and tramway railtracks while avoiding the described disadvantages with at least sufficient travel speed of the cleaning unit and under catching of the removed, in particular flushed out, dirt.
This object is obtained in connection with the method and the apparatus for performing the method with the features of the characterizing part of the method claim and of the first apparatus claim.
These claims and the subclaims form also simultaneously a part of the description of the invention.
2. Brief Description of the Invention
The method allows cleaning of a railtrack groove from a layer of dirt up to the base ground and to remove the layer of dirt also from the side faces of a railtrack grooves, wherein the dirt layer, in particular in case of a hydro-dynamic impact, is infiltrated by the cleaning fluid based on the high pressure of the cleaning fluid and the dirt layer is ripped to pieces and entrained quickly and explosion like by penetration into hairline cracks and capillary chinks.
In this context a gaseous, vaporous, or liquid cleaning fluid or mixtures thereof or solutions can be employed, wherein liquids, in particular water containing mixtures are preferred.
A movable wall formed of rubber plates or the like can serve as a collection device, which leads to a suctioning as a guide device.
The supporting disposal of the used fluid together with the dirt by suctioning off is subject to the initially recited loads, nevertheless is possible, for example for the retooling of existing carrier vehicles.
The transport of the abraded dirt is performed by the kinetic energy contained in the fluid jet streams reflected from the stripping location, wherein the kinetic energy is hurled over a distance leading away upwardly from the railtrack surface into a collection trough, wherein the dirt fluid mixture is transported by a conveyor of conventional construction into a dirt container from the collection trough.
The application of a guide face for the dirt fluid mixture deflected from the impact and stripping location and disposed under favorable angle relative to the deflected dirt fluid mixture, results in a simple interference insensitive transfer device to collection trough.
The application of suitable materials is advantageous for improving the wettability, wherein cleaning speed can be increased with these materials.
The selection of the high pressure to be applied depends in addition to the distance between the high pressure jet nozzle and the impact location also on the form of the jet stream and on which region at a railtrack groove is to be captured simultaneously by the jet stream, this means also how far the jet stream can be spread apart, as well as according to the qualities, the holding together and the layer depth of the present dirt.
Similar considerations hold for the alignment of the high pressure fluid jet stream, with its inclination in the direction of travel and also perpendicular thereto, which alignment influences stripping of the dirt and therefore has to be accessible to an adjustment based on a change in position of the employed high pressure jet nozzle in its alignment, directly or through control devices if required in case of strongly varying properties of the dirt.
Based on the aiming application of a liquid high pressure fluid jet stream, the intended effect and the transport is accomplished with small pressure fluid volumes, whereby also the flushing in of dirt into the drainage boxes of the railtrack grooves is avoided and no large amounts of soiled fluid, usually water are generated, which have to be discharged. The amounts can be discharged for example in case of lawn railtracks between these railtracks or on the side of these railtracks, similarly like dirt composed of biomass and ground mass, such that for the disposal only the dirt remains generated in the road region, which becomes possible for example by storage for example in an interchangeable container, which serves as a dirt container.
It is an important advantage of the methods and of the applied device to furnish a wet treatment of the dirt, by way of which the dust development is suppressed by depositing in the fog droplets of the high pressure fluid jet stream, without that a separate expensive segregation and deposition would prove necessary.
The high pressure fluid jet stream has to be directed fairly precisely to the position to be cleaned during the cleaning of the railtrack grooves, an advantageous shape of the jet stream has to be produced, and a suitable region of the impact angle has to be maintained in order to achieve a quick and good effect.
The dirt water mixture possibly still running off on the railtrack can exit substantially without further cleaning or also can be received by a suction device in order to keep the soiling of surroundings and ground as low as possible, wherein a small and little expensive apparatus is sufficient.
For increasing in the capabilities and power of the cleaning, several groove cleaning units can be disposed successively on a carrier vehicle for each rail, whereby the cleaning and a thus traveling speed can approach the usual train transport speeds.
It is particularly advantageous to provide a planar formation of the lower screen wall of the groove cleaning unit and to have the start at the railtrack surface at a distance from the impingement location of the high pressure fluid jet stream, which distance is at least equal to or somewhat larger as compared to the flushing width of the rail grooves, such that larger volumes of cleaning fluid cannot exit through and under the groove sealing of the screen wall.
It is important for good sideways covering that the side walls reach down up to the surfaces of the railtrack and the leading edge and end in sealing beams, which sealing beams are disposed advantageously resting back at least one surface and sealing beams delimit on the sides flushing opening for the railtrack grooves and sealing beams extend over the length of the opening in order to prevent the exit in particular of hard parts and of liquid.
The application of massive steel plate of larger thickness is necessary for this purpose because of the substantial abrasion, which can improve the sealing relative to the surface of the railtrack or, respectively, of the guiding face with a planar lower sealing face or increases the sealing pressure with a bomb shaped lower sealing face and thereby favorably forms the sealing interface.
A height level shiftable support of the sealing beams is useful for the height level of heavily varying surfaces, however the arrangement thereby becomes more subject to interferences under the heavy load.
A further improvement of the sealing with a sliding sealing beam, that is in particular on the surface of the railtrack, is achieved by application of a fluid under pressure, wherein air is particularly advantageous, wherein the air exits from openings disposed at the lower face for generation of a cushion.
A very effective, durable and lasting, and simple seal is achieved on the side of the leading edge by disposing a brush of sufficient length and with a wear resistant construction at the side wall of the covering in a brush support, wherein the brush extends over the length of the sealing beam at the outer edge of the leading edge. Simultaneously, a limitation of excessive growth of weeds at the leading edge is achieved.
The composition of the bristles, in particular made of wear resistant plastic, and also the mixed applications together with metal bristles, row by row alternating or also only made of metal bristles is advantageous depending on the application situation.
The application of a groove sealing, which reaches between the side walls of the railtrack groove up to the dirt layer or to the floor of the grooves, is of particular advantage in case of frequently cleaned grooves for the sealing against te dirt fluid mixture or for the substantial minimizing of the dirt fluid mixture passing through under the edge of the lower screen wall, or cleaned the screen wall and to the dirt layer in the railtrack grooves, while otherwise the dirt layer itself becomes effective as a seal toward the front.
The application of a groove covering, reaching from the edge of the screen wall at the railtrack surface in the travel direction reaching forwardly serves the same purpose, wherein the length of the groove covering is determined by the height level of the dirt layer deposited in the railtrack groove.
A particularly good cleaning back can be obtained in the region of the side wall of the railtrack groove, for example of the travel edge, can be achieved with a cross inclination of the high pressure fluid jet stream and is direct toward the side wall of the railtrack groove in case of heavily soiled side walls of the railtrack groove.
An effective cleaning of drainage openings up to the ground is made possible in addition by the high pressure fluid jet stream.
The spent cleaning fluid, from which the dirt has deposited up to the finest particles, can be already derived from the collection trough of the transport device on the railtrack space cleaned and next to the railtracks, in particular in case of long railtracks, similar like the top standing fluid from the dirt container, while the fluid volume generated during the passing over of the tramway railtracks is stored in a container and delivered for proper disposal.
The disposition of the groove cleaning unit at a small distance relative to wheel sets running in front of and behind or the disposition of guide wheels running in the preceding groove and there behind results in a particularly good guiding the groove, in particular in case of a curved track.
The disposition of a bucket chain in the mode of application protected is of advantage for running off the dirt water mixture, which arrangement of a bucket chain is associated with a high degree of effectiveness and which can be led upwardly on the outside close to the wall of the vehicle and which allows a simple transfer into a high level collection container.
It is advantageous to attach a magnetic collection device, known in principle, in front of each railtrack groove cleaning unit for the collection and removal of steel residues, in particular ships, of the railtrack and rails and other sources.